Island



(No Model.)

G. A. ALLISON. MECHANISM FOR FEEDING OARDING ENGINES.

No. 414,361. Patented Nov. 5, 1889.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE A. ALLISON, OF PASCOAG, RHODE ISLAND.

MECHANISM FOR FEEDING CARDlNG-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 414,361, dated November 5, 1889.

Application filed February 8, 1889. Serial No. 299,219. (No modelJ To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. ALLISON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pascoag, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Mechanism for Feeding Carding-Engines, &c., of which 'the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved attachment which is to be applied to the feeding mechanism shown and described in the patents of the United States, Nos. 216,373, 196,424, and 180,533, to which reference is made for a more extended description than is given in this specification; and the object of my improvement is to secure a greater degree of uniformity in the feeding or delivery of wool or other fibrous material to carding or other engines than heretofore; and it consists in the combination, with the feeding and delivering portions of the mechanism, of an attachment adapted to sound an alarm upon the failure of the requisite supply in the scale from a lack of the proper quantity of material in the box or receptacle into which it is thrown.

Figure l is an end elevation of the feeding mechanism to which my attachment is applied. Figs. 2, 3, and 4: are detail views illustrating my improvement, Fig. 2 being a side elevation; Fig. 3, the same, with one of the gears removed, and Fig. 4 an under view.

In the accompanying drawings, 1 is the box or receptacle into which the wool is thrown, in the bottom of which is a grating of parallel rods. (Shown by dotted lines In the rear of box 1 is the liftingapron (shown by dotted lines 3) carried by rolls 4= and 5 and provided with teeth. To prevent this apron from carrying forward the wool in lumps or bunches, a reciprocating or vibrating comb 6 is employed... To clear the teeth of apron 3 a stripping-apron 7, operated by rolls 8 and 9, is used, and 11 is the scale into which the wool is deposited by the stripping-apron 7. The scale in its general arrangement is described in Letters Patent No. 196,424, to which reference is made. At certain intervals this scale is caused to discharge its contents upon the feed-apron, (shown by dotted lines 12,) and operated by rolls 13 and 14. The various motions of the machine are obtained from driving-shaft 17. Changeable gears 18 connect with gear-pulley 19, which operates shown) from the shaft of the rollers 4 or 5 of the lifting-apron, so that the stripping-apron has a motion slightly faster than the liftingapron.

When a sufficient weight of wool has been deposited on the scale, the delivery of wool thereto is stopped by the following mechanism until the wool is discharged from the scale and the wings are again closed.

A is a lever operated by lever B, whose longer end rests on a pin G, attached to the Weighing scale. balance and carries down with it the pin 'G, it causes the longer end of lever B to follow it, that end being the heavier. In so doing the stop lever A becomes tilted and catches in one of the teeth of the clutch H or other mechanism for arresting further delivery of WOOl or other fibrous material.

22 is a change-gear which regulates the discharging of the scalethrough the gear 23, provided with a pin 24, which latter at each revolution comes in contact with the projecting part 25 of lever K. This lever, pressing on pin 26, causes the wings of the scale to open, as shown by dotted lines, and to dis charge the wool. lVhen the pin 24. has passed the projection 25 of lever K, it then comes in contact with the projecting end H of lever D, and thus, pulling on wire E, tilts lever O, which in turn forces the stop-lever A out of contact with one of the teeth 26 of clutch H. The balance-weight 27 returns the lever K to its original position after it has been operated upon by pin 24, and in like manner the weight F returns the levers C D to position.

28 is a pin or stud attached to gear-wheel 23 and operating the pusher-lever 29 by connection 30, which is adjustable by setscrews and stops or equivalent mechanism. The pusher-lever 29 is attached to one end \Vhen the scale turns its other side of the machine a corresponding slot, but of greater length, carries the pin (shown at 35 in dotted lines) at the other end of the pusher. The pusher-lever 29'has an opening in which the pin 33 rests, of such a form that during a portion of its movement it does not operate the pusher. The lever 32 at the other side of the machine moves :the

pusher in advance of the lever 29 before the latter comes into contact with pin 33, thus,

imparting to the pusher the diagonal position.

In {the practical operation of machines heretofore constructed as above described 'it has been found impossible to produce the desired uniformityof the sliver unless the wool or othermaterial was kept at about a certain height in the box or receptacle 1 and in order thatt-he machineattendantmay be able in all cases to maintain a proper quantity of material in the box I "have pro-i vided an indicating attachment, which serves to sound an alarm whenever the amount of wool or other material in the scale is .defi-' cient, and thus give notice to the attendant.

frame upon the stud d. Upon theend of shaft 3lis placed the arm a, which is to be,

so set relatively :to the pusher-lever 29 as to be caused to engage with the end f of the lever 0,:and thus cause the'elevationof the'outer end of the arm a uponthe completion of the backward vibration of the pusherlever. The arm a will thus be raised, once and 'for a short time only, during each to-andfro movement of the lever 29.

Upon the stud g, secured to the pivoted arm misplaced the loose pinion h, whichengages with the teeth of the rack t', whichisheld in position by means of suitable guides attached to the arm a,and is provided with an attached arm 7', which carries the sounding-bell To the forward end of the'rack 1 .is pivotedthealarm-lever Z, from the upper end of which :extends the curved wire m to the'hammm, which serves to sound the alarm, and to the upper side of the rack '1' is secured the fiat-spring 0, which presses against the-lever l to bring the hammer n forward tostrike the bell. To the side of the loose pinion h is attached the gear 10, which is preferablywithoutxteeth at the part q, and to, the outerend of theistud g is, secured the inner end of the helical spring 1", the outer end of the same being secured to the pin sat the sideof the gear 10, so that the resilience of the spring 0' will suffice to cause the reverse movement of the .combinedagear and pinion h, the rack t, and the attached alarm-lever Upon the end of the shaft of the roll 5, I place a pinion 15, having one tooth, and upon a stud a, secured to the end frame of the feeding mechanism, is placed the intermediate gear 1), which engages with the gear p,whereby upon the forward movement of the lifting-apron 3 and rotationof the roll 5 a slow, intermittent rotary movement will be imparted to the .gear 9, the intermediate gear 1; being held by friction or other suitable means against reverse movement arising from the resilient action of the spring 1'. Upon the side of the gear 19 is placed a pin w, which is adapted to engage with the forward end y of the alarm-lever l whenithe .track 41 is carried far enoughrforward by-the rotation of thegpinion h. The ibfiGkWfiI'd-DIOVelIlQfii) ofithe-rack t', resulting from the resilient action of the spring r,;is limited by the stop 00, which is formed at the end of the-arma.

The operation of theindicating attachment will be as follows: The scale 11 :being in its receiving :position, as shown in Fig. 1, :and the lever. 29 in its extreme forward;position, as thereshown, then the forward movement .of the lifting-apron3 to feed the material fromthe bOXfl into the scale will-causeithe revolution of theshaft of roll 5,:and the intermediate gear uand gear 31) will-beimoved through a space corresponding to the.=movement produced by the single tooth in the .lever within the orbit of revolution of thepin w, then, upon the completion of the backward movement of the'lever 29, the arm e will engage with'theend f of the lever o, and thus cause the. geanp to be lifted from engagement with the gear o,iand then the resilientaction of the? spring 4" will carry the gear 10. and rack 1', with the alarm-lever l, back to' theiroriginal position, as shown'in Fig. 2, and .the feedin g will proceed successively without sounding the alarm; but in case the wool should be fed to the lifting-apron 3 so scantily that agreatlyextended movement of the said apron'is'necessary properlyto'fill the scale, then-the-forwardimovementof the rack 2' will be-suc'h as to' cause theforward end-y of thealarm-lever Z topengage withthe revolving pin wand be thus raised againstthe resilient action'o'f' the spring 0, so that-when the pin '10 has progressed far enough in its revolution to'clear the end of thelever Z, the spring o'will cause the hammer n to-fly forward and strike the bell 70, thus. giving an alarm which willindicate the point in the action of the machine at which the lifting-apron is not supplying the should be rectified by the addition of a suitable quantity of material in the feed-box 1. The blank space q in the gear 19 serves to prevent the continued forward movement of the rack t' after the end of the alarm-lever Z has passed Within the orbit of the pin w.

I have shown the bell is as attached to the rack i, so as to move therewith; but the bell can be fixedly attached to the arm a or to the end frame of the feeding and delivering mech anism by so arranging the bell that when the alarm-lever Z is carried forward into engage ment with the pin 20 the bell will be in proper position to receive the blow of the hammer.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, with the automatic weighing-scale, the lifting-apron, and means for driving said apron, of the alarm-lever geared for forward movement with the lifting-apron, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the automatic weighing-scale, the lifting-apron, and means for driving said apron, of the alarm-lever geared for forward movement with the lifting-apron, the spring for producing the backward movement of the alarm-lever, and the tripping-arm for disengaging the alarm-lever from the driving mechanism of the liftingapron, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the automatic weighing-scale, the lifting-apron, and means for driving said apron, of the alarm-lever geared for forward movement with the lifting-apron into position for contact with a projection upon the apron-driving means, the spring for producing the backward movement of the alarm-lever, and the tripping-arm for disengaging the alarm-lever from the driving mechanism of the lifting-apron, substantially as described.

GEORGE A. ALLISON. Witnesses:

SOCRATES SCI-IOLFIELD, JOHN S. LYNCH. 

